The Spirit of the Fall
by Green Gallant
Summary: The fall is a beautiful time of the year, and the Titans intend to enjoy thier day off with a visit to the park, some football and a hayride. X High Schoolverse. Rich/Kori, Gar/Tara, TeenSlade/Rae, Vic/Kole. Celebrating the first day of autumn.


_Author's Note: Hey guys this is Green Gallant with my first new story of the month. I've been busy working on Teen Titans All Stars which is why I havent posted anything else in a while. Since this features a teenage Slade, I'm going to put it in the X High School universe to avoid any confusion among readers. Hope you like it. With my church's annual picnic in the park coming up, I thought this would be the perfect thing to personify the season. _

**The Spirit of the Fall**

Fall time a special time of the year. One filled with splendor and beauty. As the leaves turn red and amber our heroes relax in a nearby park. The ground was littered with fallen leaves as the Titans relax at a picnic table under a wooden shelter. The leaves continued falling as the defenders of the city take in a rare moment of serenity. Childhood memories of playing in the leaves, carving out jack-o-lanterns, warm jackets and Halloween costumes came rushing back. Tara and Gar chased each other running back and forth through the crimson and amber leaves. Gar dived to catch her; Tara sidestepped and missed her landing head first in leaves. Everyone sitting at the table laughed at Gar's futile attempt. He got back up and chased after her again.

Kori rested her head on Rich's shoulder as they watched. Raven leaned into Slade's chest as they watched the two go at it. Gar was catching up to her. Kori called out to Tara warning her but Gar pounced and linked his arms around her middle bringing to the ground. Tara giggled as she rolled over on her back and looked into his green eyes. BB collapsed on top of her and kissed her lips Tara giggled and kissed back.

"All right, all right that's enough you two." Said Richard.

"Yeah come on, save some of that ground for us." Joked Slade.

Gar and Terra smiled at each other and got up off the ground dusted themselves off. Vic and the other guys walked onto the field carrying a football in hand. Vic tossed the ball and Richard caught it and then tossed it to Slade who caught it. Once Slade caught the ball he threw it back to Gar. He handed the pigskin back to Terra as she went back a couple steps and threw it back to Rich. As the ball traveled to Rich, Kori jumped up and intercepted it.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Kori stuck her tongue out at him.

"You want it?" she joked.

"Yeah give it back." He chuckled.

"You gotta work for it. Tara catch!" Kori yelled and threw a perfect spiral.

"Get it guys!" he yelled.

Gar, Slade and Vic all close in on Tara but the young Titan caught it and slipped past the others.

"Get it!" yelled Slade.

The guys chase Tara down the field with Vic and Gar quickly gaining on her. She tossed the ball to Kori who took it the rest of the way. Rich chased after her arms and legs pumping as he raced to catch her. Unfortunately Rich wasn't quick enough and Kori ran an easy touchdown. The girls celebrated.

"We let you have that one." Vic said.

"Oh yeah sure." Joked Tara.

"Well get it back." Said Gar.

"Hey Raven, you wanna play?" asked Slade.

"No thanks, I'm fine right where I am." She told him.

"All right." He said.

"You sure you want to play this way? It's four of us and only two of you." Said Richard.

"Yeah we'll be fine." Said Kori.

"All right." Rich said.

The two teams met in the middle of the field. Gar snaps it back to Rich with Slade and Vic racing past Kori and Tara on either side as the girls chased after them. Rich throws it to Vic and did a diving catch in the endzone.

"Ohhh!" Rich and Gar yelled as Robin held his arms in the air.

"That's game!" he yelled.

A while later the guys were roasting hot dogs and marshmellows over a campfire, as Rich fed his to Kori still on a stick and she took a bite off it and intentionally smearing it across her face. Kori yelled and chased him around the campfire wtih their friends laughing. Kori finally caught up with him and pushed him to the ground, Rich plowed ito the dirt face first the guys burst out laughing. Vic turned around and went to help him up as Kori grabbed his other arm and pulled him to his feet. Rich dust himself off and went back to his seat as Kori returned to hers.

"All right guys, before anyone else gets killed. What do you say we go for a hayride?" Vic asked.

"Yeah!" they said.

"A'ight let's move!" he told them.

The gang made thier way to the black Ford pickup and gooseneck trailer with bales of hay lining the trailer, the guys jumped on while Vic got in the truck. Kole who had been with the group the entire time got in the cab with Vic who started up the truck and pulled out of the campsite. As they headed up the first hill, Gar draped a blanket around him and Tara while Rich put his arm around Kori's shoulder. As Raven rested her head on Slade's shoulder. They made it to the top of the hill and made a quick decent down the steep embankment. Kori grabbed Rich's arm as they raced down the hill. Vic tapped the brake a bit to nogotiate the turn a little better.

Making it around the corner he picked up speed as they went up another hill. It was steep and felt like it went straight up, some of the guys started to slide a bit in their seats as Kori and Tara instinctively grabbed ahole of thier respective boyfriends. Vic had to shift into a lower gear as they continued to climb the hill.

"You sure the truck can handle this?" Kole asked.

"It better otherwise we're going to have a hell of a ride in the wrong direction." he said as they finally made it to the top.

The truck's engine sputtered a bit as they reached the peak and look at the monsterous embankment before them.

"Hang on!" Vic yelled.

The guys on the trailer were looking a little scared as utterings of awe and mild fright came from thier mouths that soon turned into screams as they dropped over the hill. The pickup raced down the steep hill as the girls grabbed ahold of the guys and around the corner. Rich, Kori, Raven and Slade leaned back as they came around with Gar and Tara leaning forward since they were sitting on the other side. Kori felt like she was going to fall out as she grabbed onto Richard for dear life. The truck slowed down a bit as they came across a road that went across a dam.

Vic drove along at 20mph coming across the bridge as another car went past on the other side. The guys relaxed as the cool autumn air brushed over them.

"You guys getting cold?" Gar asked.

"Little bit." Kori said as Gar tossed them an extra blanket.

"What about you guys?" Tara asked Raven and Slade.

"We're good." Raven told her huddeling close to her boyfriend.

"It was nice of you to bring us out here." said Kole.

"Yeah well with all the crime fighting and other things, I figured we could use a break." he told her.

"Your a good guy Vic." she said placing her hand on his thigh.

"Hey it's the least I could do." he said as she kissed his cheek.

The Titan blushed a bit as they left the bridge and went up another steep hill. The team arrived back at the campsite a while later. As the guys helped the girls off the trailer and several made a dash back to the dying campfire while Gar and Tara raced for the swings. As the darkness brought about the end of a perfect day off for the city's defenders.

_Author's Note: So what did you think of that? I always try to post at least one new story a month. I seriously couldnt think of a good ending for this fic, which is why it was on the back burner for a while. But now I decided to go ahead and post my first new story of the month, a little later than I usually would, but whatever. Let me know what you think. _

_Please review_

_Green Gallant. _


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